Philip Glass, Kurt Andersen to appear in conversation at BAM
BAM, Pratt, Greenlight Bookstore to Co-Present ‘Unbound’
Philip Glass, one of the most influential contemporary composers, will discuss his highly anticipated memoir, “Words Without Music,” on April 20 at 8 p.m. as part of Unbound: A Book Launch Series with BAM and Greenlight Bookstore. Brooklyn-based novelist and public radio host Kurt Andersen, a trustee of Pratt Institute, will moderate. This evening is part of the Pratt Presents public programs series, which features high-profile artists, designers, thought leaders and influencers who have made major contributions to contemporary culture.
A versatile composer whose works include symphonies, operas, film scores and small-scale compositions, Philip Glass crafted the dominant sound of late 20th-century classical music. In “Words Without Music” (Liveright), he traces his artistic arc, from childhood in post-World War II Baltimore to student days in Chicago, to Juilliard, and on his first journey to Paris, where he studied under the formidable composer/conductor Nadia Boulanger.
Glass recalls his early mentors, while reconstructing the places that helped shape his artistic consciousness — from a life-changing trip to India, where he met with gurus and first learned of Gandhi’s Salt March to the gritty streets of New York in the 1970s, where the composer worked day jobs as a furniture mover, cabbie and an unlicensed plumber, while methodically building his music career.
